[PRP] Good Graces (Miroslav/Bwana)

[MoonRazor]

There was still something very wrong with the picture he saw every time he left his den. Still, commonfolk wandered free and happy across the pride lands and still, fairy folk dominated the forests, driving suspicion and fear into the vast majority of his companions. And while Miroslav could do nothing but applaud both emotions, the fact that they were credited to the Groundlings was enough to make his hair stand on end. What right did they have?

None. That was the answer, plain and simple, and it seemed that nobody but he could understand that anymore. Ever since his return to the Suka'Fumo, he had come to realize, with ever increasing gravity, that his people had been led astray. What was more, his new King had been fooled... by who knew what sorts of devils partied with the fairy folk.

The very fact that Bwana seemed to welcome and trust outsiders more than Miroslav himself seemed to the gloriously purple lion like all the evidence required to validate his concerns. A stranger, and what was more, a common stranger had managed to worm his way into Bwana's affections and that simply would not do.

It had taken some thought, but Miroslav had decided that it would take no small amount of cajoling before Bwana could be convinced to see the error of his ways. He had no time to lose.  

[Cajanic]

Bwana was a happy camper. His pride was bouncing with life and the once prominent purple gloom that coated the place seemed to finally be lifting. Finally, slowly and surely, the thought that purple coats somehow made a lion better than another was fading from the minds of his subjects. One day, he hoped the class system would remove itself entirely. Indeed, were he a more brazen king he might have disbanded the concept himself right away. The thought was there. He could do it.

He was the king.

But he knew it wouldn’t be so simple- he didn’t want to pull the ground out from anyone. If he rid the pride of such ingrained rules, he would be no better than his father. He would be robbing them of a culture they had grown to love. Hopefully, letting them see there is more to life than being purple was the way to go. Hopefully, they would learn on their own to move away from their own bias.

He wanted to put his faith in his pride. So far, with all the vibrantly colored new blood, it seemed to be working. They were chatting with one another more and they seemed to be getting along. He was happy.

Not everyone seemed to be as eager. He knew his returned advisor was not thrilled with the new layout, though he seemed to be trying his best. That was all Bwana asked of his subjects.

Still, the trust that this particular subject was on the level was… wavering a bit. He just couldn’t be sure he could put his faith in someone who was so used to old ways.

Sighing heavily, he sat himself down outside his den, looking down into the valley far below his cliff-top home. The cubs were inside, taking a nap. Good. The time to himself would help him think of his next move.
 

[MoonRazor]

Miroslav's own plan of action was simple: first, gain the King's trust. Under normal circumstances, he would have thought that perhaps this first little step would have been quite easy a task, nothing that would cause him any amount of grief or frustration. The more he considered it, though, the less it seemed that way. He had seen the way Bwana interacted with the commonfolk, seen the way he encouraged his subjects to do the same, to the point where Miroslav had seriously begun to question whether or not it would be a waste of time to remain and make any efforts to revert the pride back to its old, glorious ways.

But pride had gotten in the way of quitting; ego and arrogance had stopped him from letting up, and now he was on his way to put into work his plan. There was nothing else on his agenda, for now. Chatting up the King seemed a... somewhat daunting task on its own - that was, if the word daunting existed in Miroslav's vocabulary, which it didn't so the noble lion didn't see any real problems.

His persistence, it seemed, was ready to be paid off. Not far off, he could see the familiar, purple figure of his new King sitting outside the royal family's den. It would be such a shame, he mused, to lose such a beautifully purple royal to the follies of commoners. Miroslav was ready to make use of any means necessary to save Bwana from the peasants.

"Your Majesty," he greeted as he neared, executing a formal and rather elaborate bow before Bwana.  

[Cajanic]

Bwana turned his head, observing the noble as the other moved to bow. Such a show of respect- it made Bwana a little uncomfortable. Granted, he wasn’t the first to bow before him, but that didn’t make it any less of a shock. For a lion who had spent most of his young life with thugs and creatures who didn’t know his heritage, getting treated with any kind of respect was something he still needed some transitioning into. Even after so long back home, it felt like they were giving the wrong lion the royal treatment.

Go figure.

Nodding his head respectfully, he did his best not to let the bow go to waste, sitting as regally as he imagined possible. Some things would never come naturally to him, and he supposed acting like the true definition of a king would be one of those things. Right up there with getting the better of Kal. Two things that would never happen. … ever.

“Hello, Miroslav,” He offered courteously, “it is good to see you. I was just thinking about you.” Maybe admitting that was somewhat foolish, but he imagined there was no reason to hide it. It would hardly come as a surprise that some of the older members of the pride made him a bit nervous.

Their views on his father would be the real deciding factor. Whether or not they were loyal to him.

“How are you today?” He asked conversationally, for lack of anything better to do. What was he supposed to say to someone he didn’t fully trust yet? ‘yo, dude, you gonna try and have me killed?’ While something he really did want to know, it was the kind of thing he could just blurt out. If he wanted to be seen as a better king than his father, he needed to trust his subjects.

Old and new.
 

[MoonRazor]

Somehow, Bwana just didn't seem like the king his father had been, though Miroslav couldn't quite put a finger on why exactly. There seemed to be an air about the king that threatened to put Miroslav to despair, but those thoughts seemed to border on treason, and he had not come this far just to give up. Defeat and the admission of defeat were two things that the purple lion simply did not accept, from himself or anybody else.

"I cannot begin to express how honored I am that my King would devote time out of his precious day to think about subjects like myself." Miroslav supposed that thinking could be either good or bad, but calmed himself by deciding that attention was attention and that it would eventually pay off either way. "Surely, there are more important matters to occupy the mind of a great ruler like yourself."

Of course, if Miroslav was to be frank, he didn't imagine there was another lion more worthy of the king's attention than himself. It wasn't a thought that he would voice aloud to this particular king, or any other, but it comforted him to know that such a truth did exist.

"I am well, Your Grace," he added with a nod. "Returning to the Suka'Fumo has put me in considerably high spirits. I can't imagine now how I survived without the comfort of home for so long."  

[Cajanic]

Bwana watched the other, wondering if it was a good relationship to have someone around he couldn’t fully trust. But what would it make him, as a leader, to kick someone out on nothing more than bad feelings and past memories? He had don’t nothing to suggest he was the same lion, and he had done nothing to suggest he was going to try anything devious. In fact, he seemed honest in wanting to live in the pride he had once served to loyally.

If there was something malicious about that, then Bwana wasn’t ruling his pride how he needed to.

“My subjects will always be my top priority,” Bwana assured the noble, “nothing is more important to me then thinking about, and helping, my pridesmen.” He imagined that had not been the top priority of his father- he had been more concerned with expanding borders and making sure only certain lions were treated well. He did not have enough of a mind frame to consider all his pride.

“I imagine you have many stories,” Bwana said with a faint smile, “of your times in the rogue lands. I, likewise, had some adventures there. But it is good to be home- this is where we belong. Probably where we will always belong. Still, I’d like to hear of your adventures sometime, if you ever feel like sharing what happened.”
 

[MoonRazor]

Cajanic

((Derp, and this one))

No matter how hard he tried, Miroslav still felt... resistance. At the very least, it was that slight inkling that he was not quite where he wanted to be, deep inside the King's inner circle. Was it mistrust? Perhaps not fully, but it wasn't quite trust either. Something was amiss, and he just knew that he didn't have quite the same handle and power as he had enjoyed in his younger days.

Still, that was something that Miroslav would have to come to terms with. Bwana was not his father and Miroslav was not a member of the war council any longer. He had to remember that and find a way to work around that. He didn't have a leg up any longer, was no longer in a position to do as he pleased.

That would have to change. Perhaps Bwana would never come to trust Miroslav as fully as his father had before him, but that didn't mean the new King couldn't ever come to trust Miroslav. There had to be a way.

But steady and slow would win the race. That, too, Miroslav had to remember.

"Ah, but of course, Your Grace," the noble lion replied. "Caring for pridesmen, the mark of a good King like yourself." Caring for... certain pridesmen, anyway. Miroslav couldn't imagine why the filthy fairyfolk down in the forest would need to be cared for, or even some of the common peasants. Granted, they had their uses, but what was practicality when there wasn't the proper breeding to uphold it?

"Oh, many stories indeed, my King," Miroslav agreed, nodding as he thought back to his days wandering the rogue lands. Surrounded by more filth. It was a despicable and degrading existence that he had hoped never to revisit. But unfortunately, it seemed, Bwana had taken some interest. Very well. "It would be a pleasure to share. So many... life-changing stories from beyond our pride's borders. But no doubt, Your Grace has had many more adventures than myself. I could hardly call my experiences adventurous."